Method of folding and packaging shirts



Sept. '11, 1951 s. LIG HTER 2,567,385

METHOD OF FOLDING AND PACKAGING SHIRTS Filed Nov. 12, 1947 3Sheets-Sheet 1 MAM 1 Sept. 11, 1951 Filed Nov, 12, 1947 s. LIGHTER2,567,385

METHOD OF FOLDING AND PACKAGING SHIRTS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Sept. 11, 1951Filed Nov. 12, 1947 s. LIGHTER 2,567,385

METHOD OF FOLDING AND PACKAGING SHIRTS 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

Patented Sept. 11, 195i UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD or FOLDINGAND PACKAGING snmrs Stephen Lighter, Milwaukee, Wis.

Application November 12, 1947, Serial No. '7 85,232

My present invention relates generally to improvements in the art offolding and wrapping shirts, and rel-ates more specifically to animproved folded shirt package and to an improved method of and apparatusfor producing the packages.

It is customary in most laundries to carefully fold mens shirts afterthey have been laundered, by utilizing a flat rectangular folding boardof desired length initially applied to the upper back portion of eachshirt, and about which the cuffs, sleeves and opposite sides of theshirt are folded laterally, while the tail portions of the garment aresubsequently folded upwardly or longitudinally over the pro-foldedsleeves portions resting upon the board After such folding of each shirthas been thus effected, an envelope or shirt embracing band is appliedto the folded shirt body and a collar retainer may also be applied tothe shirt collar, whereupon the folding board may be withdrawn upwardlyfrom within the completed package. This method of folding and packaginghas been in vogue for many years in spite of the fact that the flat orplane folding boards heretofore employed, frequently caused 2 Claims.(01. 93168) the folded cuffs and sleeves to produce unsightly bulges andwrinkles at the bosom portions of the .enwrapped shirts and thus marredthe neat appearance of the final packages. Then too, the envelopes andretainer bands heretofore utilized to maintain the shirts in foldedcondition could not be conveniently applied without wrinkling thegarments, and these retaining devices when in the form of a completeenvelope were relatively costly, while the prior relatively narrow andless expensive retainer bands did not afford sufficient support of thelower portions of the enwrapped shirts.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide animproved method of fold ing and wrapping freshly laundered shirts or thelike, with the aid of an improved folding board and retaining band,whereby an improved and highly aesthetic final package results, so thatall of the above mentioned objections are eliminated.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an improvedshirt folding board which may be utilized to rapidly and effectivelyfold shirts or similar garments in a manner whereby undue protrusion andwrinkling of the shirt bosoms is positively avoided, and with the aid ofwhich the cuffs and folded sleeves are caused to reenforce and stiffenthe folded garments so as to resist free flexing or bending of thepackages.

A further important object of my present invention is to provide animproved folded shirt retainer which may be readily manufactured fromdurable stock with minimum waste and at moderate cost, and which mayalso be conveniently applied to the folded shirts so as to retain thegarments neatly folded while also maintaining the collars and otherexposed portions of the enwrapped articles in reenforced condition.

Still another important object of the invention is to provide animproved mode of expediting the folding and wrapping of freshlylaundered shirts in a manner whereby the successive garments may bequickly packed and are effectively protected during subsequent handling.

Anadditional object of my invention is to provide simple and inexpensiveapparatus for facilitating shirt wrapping and packaging procedure, andwhich may. be utilized by a novice to produce flatand unwrinkled foldedshirt packages having the folds snugly confined within a relativelynarrow retainer band.

These and other specific objects and advantages. of the presentinvention will be apparent from the following detailed description.

A clear conception of the several steps involved in my new shirtpackaging method, and of the construction andmode of utilizing myimproved folding board and protective wrappers, may be had by referringto the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specificationwherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts inthe various views.

Fig. 1 is'a perspective view of one of my improved shirt folding boardsshowing the same being initially applied to a fragment of the upper rearportion of a shirt the major portion of the sleeves of which have beenbroken away;

Fig. 2 is a similar perspective view of the assemblage shown in Fig. 1,but showing the shirt sleeves folded inwardly about their shoulderportions toward the folding board resting upon the upper back portion ofthe shirt, with the shirt cuffsfl-attened and reposing within theconcavity of the board; I i

Fig. 3 is another similar perspective view of the same assemblage, butshowing the left hand sleeve and the adjacent side of the shirt, foldedinwardly over the cuffs and concavity of the folding board; 1 Fig. 4 isstill another similar perspective view of the assemblage, but showingthe right hand sleeve and side of the shirt, folded inwardly over andalso showing one of my improved retainers and protectors being appliedto the shirt bosom;

Fig. '7 is another perspective view of the inverted assemblage of Fig.6, but showing the protective retainer band moved downwardly over theshirt bosom and beneath the collar lapels;

Fig. 8 is still another perspective view of the inverted folding boardand shirtassembly, Showing the collar protector of the shirt retainerband finally applied to the collar;

Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the rear of the final shirt package,showing the folding board being removed or withdrawn longitudinally fromits upper end; and

Fig. 10 is a front and;side perspective view of the final package.

While the invention has been shown and described herein as beingadvantageously applicable for the purpose of packing freshly launderedmen s shirts, it is not my desire .or intent to unnecessarily limit thescope or utility of the improved method and apparatus by virtue of therestricted disclosure.

. In accordance with my presentimprovement, I provide an improved shirtfolding member or board l4 of predeterminedshape andsize, havinganelongated concavity or-concavesurface on one side, and acorrespondingly elongated convexity or convex surface [.6 on .itsopposite side. This board 14 may be formedof any relatively stiff. sheetmaterial such as metal, plastic, wood, or paper adapted to retain itsdesired shape, and mayalso be of suitable length depending upon thelength of final package desired. The folding member is preferablyrectangular in shape and the width of the folding board I4 may beapproximately seven inches in, order to produce final packagesapproximately eight inches wide, while the effective length may beeither twelve inches in order to produce so-called short-fold packs, orsixteen inches for the production of "longfold" packs. As illustrated inFigs. 1 to 9 inclusive, the folding board may also be provided at itsopposite sides with swing .bracketsor wire I! pivotally suspended frombrackets l3 secured to the board extension l9, and while these wires 11facilitate, lateral folding of the side portions of the shirts, they arenot necessary .and may be omitted.

I also preferably provide improved foldedshirt embracing elements orbands 20 such as illustrated in Figs. 7 to inclusive, each comprising acontinuous ribbon of relatively stiff cardboard stock having front andrear walls 21, .22 interconnected at their opposite sides along foldlines 24, the front wall 2! being provided with a collar retainer plate25 swingably connected to its upper edge by a central panel 26, and therear wall 22 being provided with a downwardly projecting integralcentral apron lip '21. These wrapper bands may be formed of unitaryblanks adapted to be die cut in nested groups from strips or sheets ofcardboard so as to result in minimum waste of stock, and each of theseblanks may be folded and joined at its ends into continuous ribbonformation in any convenient manner, but preferably by having the joints28 extend centrally of the lips 21 in order to reenforce and stiffenthese lips. While the collar retainer assemblage associated with thefront wall 2| and specifically illustrated, is of the general type shownin my prior Patent #2243350, granted May 27, 1941, this assemblage mayalso be varied to some extent, although the collar retaining plate 25and panel 26 do cooperate with the wrapper band 20 to maintain thelatter in proper position and to protect the enwrapped garment.- Thebands 20 are preferably formed of relatively resilient stock so thatthey may be distended into approximately elliptical shape preparatory toapplication to a shirt, and will clamp the shirt folds together when infinal position.

When utilizing my improved folding member or board l4 and band 20 tocarry on my improved method of packing a laundered shirt 30, the garmentshould be initially spread out upon a table or other suitable supportwith the back 3| uppermost and the sleeves 32 and cuffs 33 fiattened andstretched outwardly as in Fig. 1; whereupon the folding board assemblageshould be applied as shown with its convex face Hi resting upon theupper portion of the shirt back 31 and its concavity I5 upwardlydirected, and with the folding wires I1 swung outwardly. With theelements thus positioned, the sleeves 32 and cuffs 33 of the shirt 30should be folded about the distended wires l1 and the cufis 33 togetherwith the adjacent sleeve extremities should be caused to repose neatlywithin the concavity ll; of the folding board [4 as illustrated in Fig.2, with the flattened cuffs 33 extending longitudinally of the board andsuperimposed upon each other.

The sleeves 32 and the side portions 34 of the shirt 3!] may thereafterbe folded inwardly in succession about the opposite side edges of thefolding board l4, as depicted in Figs. 3 and so that these side portions34 become superimposed upon each other and upon the flat cuffs 33 andneatly folded sleeves 32, and these side folds should be extendedthroughout the entire length of the garment. Upon completion of thislongitudinal folding operation, the tail portion 35 of the shirt 3!)should be folded transversely and caused to repose upon the medial shirtportion 36, and the latter should thereafterbe folded about the loweredge of the board I4 and deposited upon the inwardly pre-folded upperside portions 34 of the garment, as shown in Fig. 5. This completes thefolding steps, and while the folding wires H may be utilized in order tofacilitate folding of the sleeves 32 and side portions 34, their use isnot essential.

In order to apply the final wrapper and retainer, the folding board andfolded shirt assemblage may be disposed vertically with the boardextension 19 resting upon a suitable support, whereupon a wrapperelement or band 20 may be readily applied to the uppermost end of theassembly as illustrated in Fig. 6. The front and rear walls 21, 22 ofthe band 20 will be spread apart as the wrapper is slid downwardly overthe bosom 31 and medial portion 36. of the folded garment, therebydrawing the fold lines 24 inwardly toward each other; and as thewrapping band 20 approaches the shirt collar 38,.it should be permittedto pass beneath the collar lapels .39 while the retainer plate 25 shouldbe allowed to advance over these lapels 39 and over the collar 38 as deicted in Fig. '7. The panel 26 will permit such action to take placeduring lowering of the band, and the retainer plate 25 may then besnapped into the interior of the collar 38 in the manner shown in Fig,8.

The package may thereafter be freely withdrawn from the folding board 14as illustrated in-Fig. 9, whereupon the resilient wrapper band 20 willdistend outwardly and will snugly embrace the body of the shirt 30,while the retainer plate 25 will prevent shifting of the band 20 alongthe shirt and will also protect the collar 38 against collapse. Theapron projection 21 at the rear of the package extends downwardly awayfrom the collar 38 and thus cooperates with the collar retainer and withthe remainder of the band 20 to provide reinforcement against bendingthroughout the major portion of the package length; and the flat cufi's33 and adjacent portions of the sleeves 32, which had previously beenconfined with the concavity l5 of the folding board M, are snuglyfiatwise confined within the garment and cooperate with the localembracing band to eliminate unsightly bulges which also tend to obstructapplication of the wrapper, and to produce a highly aesthetic andabundantly reinforced package such as shown in Fig. 10, withoututilizing complete shirt envelopes or reinforcing inserts.

From the foregoing detailed description it will be apparent that mypresent invention provides an improved and highly attractive foldedshirt package and an improved method of and apparatus for producing suchpackages in rapid succession. The curved elongated folding member orboard It causes the shirt folds to be stretched taut transversely of thegarment so that when the wrapper band 20 is finally applied and theboard is withdrawn, the shirt flattens and is stretched out laterallywith the spreading band and the production of wrinkles and bulges isentirely avoided so that a smooth and dressy finish results. While theconvex surface l6 of the folding member is of importance in eliminatingwrinkles, the concavity l5 of this folding device is also of importancein properly positioning the sleeves 32 and cuifs 33 so as to eliminatebulges which tend to obstruct advancement of the wrapper band whilebeing applied; and although the width of the curved folding board I4 isless than that of the final packages, the difference is due to theflattening action of the resilient bands. The boards 14 may be of anydesired shape, length and width and need not necessarily be providedwith guide wires I! as shown.

The improved wrapper bands 20 may be readily produced in quantity fromcardboard or similar strips or sheets and with minimum waste of stockand may also be formed relatively narrow in order to reduce the cost ofproduction to a minimum. Although the use of the collar protecting plate25 aids in reinforcing the shirt collar 38 and in keeping the narrowband 20 in proper position, this plate 25 and the panel 26 may beomitted, but the addition of the apron projection 21 which extendsdownwardly a considerable distance below the front portion of the band,is desirable in order to reenforce the package against undesirablebending. A relatively narrow band 20 may therefore be utilized toeffectively reenforce both the rear lower portion and the front uppercollar portion of each folded shirt, and a minimum amount of stock isused in the production of these narrow retainer bands. My improvedmethod and apparatus have proven highly advantageous and successful inactual use, and are especially useful in laundries for the purpose offolding and packing freshly laundered shirts and the like.

It should be understood that it is not desired to limit this inventionto the exact steps of the method or to the precise details ofconstruction of the apparatus herein described and illustrated, forvarious modification within the scope of the appended claims may occurto persons skilled in the art; and it is also contemplated that specificdescriptive terms employed herein be given the broadest possibleinterpretation consistent with the disclosure.

I claim:

1. The method of wrapping a shirt, which comprises, positioning theflattened and distended shirt with its buttoned bosom portion lowermostand with the flattened sleeves outstretched and the cuffs distended,bending the bosom and the superimposed back portions laterally topredetermined definite curvature and maintaining said bosom and backportions thus curved to provide a concavity extending longitudinally ofthe back while initially folding the sleeves inwardly to dispose thefiattened cuifs lengthwise and centrally within the concavity, foldingthe opposite side portions of the shirt and the initially foldedadjacent sleeve portions inwardly into the concavity to produce anelongated folded assemblage of definite width and subsequently foldingthe lower portions of the shirt transversely and superimposing the sameover the inwardly folded sleeves and side portions within the concavity,slipping a continuous band wrapper over the transverse fold and alongthe folded shirt toward the collar, and finally releasing the pre-curvedbosom and back portions to allow the completely folded shirt to spreadlaterally within the band.

2. The method of wrapping a shirt, which comprises, positioning theflattened and distended shirt with its buttoned bosom portion lowermostand with the flattened sleeves outstretched and the cuffs distended,definitely bending the bosom and the superimposed back portionslaterally to predetermined curvature and maintaining such curvature toprovide a concavity in said portions while folding the sleeves inwardlyto dispose the flattened and distended cuffs lengthwise within theconcavity, folding the opposite side portions of the shirt inwardly intothe concavity to produce an elongated folded assemblage of definitewidth and subsequently transversely folding the lower portions of theshirt upwardly and into the concavity, applying a continuous bandwrapper about the curved bosom portion and the shirt portions within theconcavity, and finally releasing the pre-curved bosom and back portionsto allow the completely folded shirt to spread laterally within theband.

STEPHEN LIGHTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,417,752 Lindgren May 30, 19221,966,630 Kuhn July 17, 1934 2,010,333 Steele Aug. 6, 1935 2,014,097Alter Sept. 10, 1935 2,076,467 Krout Apr. 6, 1937 2,092,604 Herzog Sept.7, 1937 2,146,052 Blumstock Feb. 7, 1939 2,152,940 Weigman Apr. 4, 19392,175,666 Lighter Oct. 10, 1939 2,202,062 Morse May 28, 1940 2,226,231Morse Dec. 24, 1940 2,305,359 Steele Dec. 15, 1942 2,321,870 Steele June15, 1943 2,362,976 Cooper Nov. 21, 1944

